One of my favorite classes in college was a Creative Problem Solving class. It was a requirement for Interior Design majors. I think it should be a requirement for all majors. One of our projects was to describe a time that we solved a problem creatively. I couldn’t think of anything until my mom reminded me of the “hairspray incident.” Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? When I was in junior high basketball, one of the high school girls that wasn’t in sports and therefore didn’t have access to the high school girls’ locker room, kept coming into our locker room and using my hairspray. I got tired of it and decided to put an end to it. I doctored up a bottle of hairspray just for her which involved some water and green food coloring. I put the new bottle at the front of my locker for her ease of use. The next day there were lots of stories about her coming to glass with green hair. Before class, the coach sat us down and asked if anyone knew why there were green splotches all over the walls of our locker room. Everyone looked at me. Scared I was going to get in trouble, I told him the whole story. He just smiled and began class.
I tell this story because I believe the best way to save money is by creatively solving problems. I think too often we just do what everyone else is doing. We follow the pack and listen to whatever advertisers tell us to do. If you are struggling financially, or even if you’re not, I recommend making a list of all your monthly bills. Look through your list, see who’s getting most of your money. Does that amount fit with your priorities? If not, that list is a great place to start making adjustments.
For several years, I REALLY wanted an iPhone. I did not like how AT&T and Apple were dictating how it would be used. I was happy with my current carrier and had found a plan that was economically feasible for me. I was not willing to part with the money that AT&T would require I pay them. And I didn’t want to lock myself into a more expensive calling plan and data plan. I didn’t even have to have data. I had an iPod Touch and a Samsung phone. I just wanted to have one device that I could carry with me for phone and music and to use to access the internet at home. So I did a little research and discovered that an unlocked iPhone would work on the T-Mobile network, my service provider. After a little more research I decided the best option for me was to buy a factory unlocked phone from Hong Kong on Ebay. Once I received the phone, I decided that it would be nice to have a data plan so I went ahead with the T-Mobile plan that includes the Edge, at a fraction of the cost of an AT&T plan. Yes, it’s slower but I have access if I need it, and I still have my much lower priced calling plan with T-Mobile. I’m also not locked into a data plan; I can cancel it at anytime and just use WiFi. I’m not sure what’s going to happen if and when AT&T and T-Mobile merge. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Is there something you want that you think you can’t afford? Have you researched alternatives? With internet access, it’s usually as simple as googling a few questions to find out if there are alternatives. Do you have subscriptions purely because you’re expected to have them? I remember when I moved into an apartment with my high school best friend, our sophomore year in college. I couldn’t believe that she thought we could live without cable. Of course, in my defense, in my home town if you don’t have cable there’s no point in having a tv. That was not the case in our new city. I paid for the cable so that we could have it. But a few years after that, when living on my own, I decided I really didn’t need cable. I think, as a society, we often fall into a pattern of having what’s expected of us, whether we really want it or not. I occasionally feel the pressure when I face the blank stares of people that I’ve told I don’t have cable. But I probably look at them funny when they tell me they’re paying $100/month for something they rarely use.
What problem can you solve today by thinking outside the box?
Leave a Reply